San Diego Symphony Summer Pops presents “Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy”

Arnie Roth insists he didn’t have any grand plan for planetary domination when it comes to conducting symphonic concerts of video game music.

Roth, who leads the San Diego Symphony tonight in a Comic-Con-related performance of “Distant Worlds: Music From Final Fantasy,” was merely looking for repertoire for his ensemble, the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra.

A colleague mentioned that serious, symphonic concerts of video game music were common in Japan, but untried in the U.S., and Roth was off and running.

“We decided to try it in Chicago in February of 2004,” said Roth, who won a Grammy as a member of Mannheim Steamroller. “We presented the first, public concert of music from ‘Final Fantasy’ in North America.”

The game series’ developer and publisher, Square Enix, liked the idea so much that it arranged for Roth to conduct the program with several other orchestras. And as the saying goes, one thing led to another.

“Square Enix entered into talks with me to develop a global touring model,” Roth said. “That’s what ‘Distant Worlds’ became. We’re in our sixth year of ‘Distant Worlds,’ and during the course of that, I started getting asked to be part of a lot of other concerts involving video game music.”

The synergy between video game music and symphony orchestras is reflected by the list of orchestras who have requested Roth’s services (in addition to San Diego): the London Symphony Orchestra, Atlanta Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, BBC Symphony, San Francisco Symphony and Tokyo Philharmonic, to name a few.

Roth credits “Final Fantasy” composer Nobuo Uematsu for putting symphonic music (among other genres) into video games. Even at the beginning, when game systems would only allow rudimentary soundtracks, Uematsu attached certain themes to certain characters and situations, not unlike what Wagner did in his operas or John Williams does in his movie scores.

“The music is very cinematic,” Roth said. “Most people are familiar with listening to big sweeping scores by John Williams or Howard Shore or any number of famous film composers. Some video game music, certainly the music of ‘Final Fantasy,’ has many similar aspects.”

Some might say that video game scores are the new film scores, but Roth doesn’t go that far.

“I don’t think they replace movies,” Roth said. “But there are many video games now that are being written with real character development, plot twists, plot points and really intricate stories. And for that reason, you have the yin-yang you need to write a great, epic score.”

Or in Roth’s case, the sweep and drama that makes it worth conducting.